Help plant the missing piece of Great Avon Wood

Aim

Help plant the missing piece of Great Avon Wood. Plant 6,500 trees. Connect three woodlands. Give wildlife room to thrive.

There’s a missing piece of the puzzle at Great Avon Wood. 

A 23.5-acre piece of land sits between the three sections of woodland we’ve already created. It’s the piece that can join them together.  Plant it, and we could turn three separate woodlands into one connected habitat.

This winter, we want to plant 6,500 native trees between Bristol and Bath - creating a vital wildlife corridor and completing Great Avon Wood. We’d be planting a continuous forest of over 40,000 trees. 

But we need your help. 

We need to raise £75,000 this winter. 

The trees are ready. The land is ready. Our volunteers are ready.

Now, you can be a part of making this winter's planting happen.

We're asking our community to come together and help us raise £75,000 in four weeks.

We have a small window to get these trees planted this winter. We need your support to buy the materials to keep them alive and well. 

One winter. One mission. One missing piece.

Since 2019, Avon Needs Trees has been creating permanent new woodland across the Bristol Avon catchment – tackling the climate and nature emergencies while helping make our landscapes more resilient.

In 2023, with the help of over 1,000 volunteers we began to plant Great Avon Wood - three individual pieces of woodland of over 35,000 new trees. Since then, we’ve seen beavers, barn owls, bats and hares make their way back to the landscape. 

Wildlife is returning to Great Avon Wood, but nature can’t thrive in isolated pockets. 

That’s why this year, with support from Western Forest, Avon Needs Trees and Forest of Avon purchased the missing piece of the puzzle. 

One connected woodland.

By planting here, we can join these special habitats together and create a continuous corridor through the landscape. We’ll not only plant vital new trees, but connect and strengthen the habitat we’ve already created.

Better-connected landscapes give wildlife more opportunities to move, feed, find shelter and breed.  Trees, hedges and woodland cover allow populations to spread and adapt, and help nature become more resilient. 

Green space - for everyone. 

Around 70% of the new site will become native woodland, with the remaining land managed as species-rich grassland.

Together, these habitats will create a richer, more varied landscape for wildlife -  while extending the Great Avon Wood Heritage Trail and creating new green space for people through new public pathways. 

And, just like the rest of Great Avon Wood, local people will be invited to get involved.

Hundreds of volunteers will help plant the trees this winter. Local schools and communities will help shape the woodland's identity.

But planting trees is only the beginning.

Your support unlocks Phase Two

Once the woodland is established, we want to take the next step.

Phase Two will bring wet woodland to Great Avon Wood.

Wet woodland is one of Britain's rarest and most threatened woodland habitats. It develops where soils are seasonally or permanently wet and can occur as pockets within larger areas of woodland. These damp, watery habitats create unique ecological niches and can support an extraordinary range of wildlife.

Alder, willow and birch can thrive in wet woodland, alongside mosses, ferns, sedges and other moisture-loving plants. The habitat can provide food and shelter for invertebrates, amphibians, birds, bats and other wildlife.

After a summer of severe drought, creating pockets of water within the landscape is more important than ever.  

We will be creating new ponds and scrapes that will hold rainfall in the landscape, reducing the impact of flooding in winter and droughts in summer. Planting to complement the Publow Brook that runs through Great Avon Wood will mean the impact of our work will be felt all the way downstream to the Bristol Channel. 

Help us put the missing piece in place.

£10, £50, £100 or £500 - every donation brings us closer to planting 6,500 native trees this winter.

And if you can't donate, sharing this campaign could be just as valuable.

Because this isn't just about planting trees. It's about connecting habitats, giving wildlife room to move and creating a richer, more resilient landscape for generations to come.

£75,000. Four weeks. One missing piece.

Donate today and help us grow Great Avon Wood.

If you're an individual wanting to make a larger contribution, or a business who is interested in becoming a founding partner of the project, please get in touch at [email protected]

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 11th December 2026 at 12:00pm